


Long Sleeves

by xbenihime



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, but the after effects, not a scene of it, so please be cautious if you don't want to read this, there is a self harm trigger here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-28
Updated: 2016-05-28
Packaged: 2018-07-10 20:18:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7004890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xbenihime/pseuds/xbenihime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time Adrien had requested to wear long sleeves for a photo shoot, it was cold so she didn’t think much of it. But as time went on and again he kept asking for them, she started to get suspicious. What was he hiding from her? Adrienette comfort. OneShot. Complete.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Long Sleeves

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING. Emotional triggers here. Deals with the aftermath of self harm but no actual harming scenes.

“You’ve prepared the shoot for the fall lineup, right?”

Marinette’s head snapped up at the sound of Nathalie’s voice. Her boss was tinkering around on her iPad as she waited for an answer.

“Working on it,  _Madame_ ,” she said quickly, rearranging the papers on her desk. She was working on the rough layout of the next issue of PARIS. It was to showcase the fall lineup of Agreste’s clothing and was missing its cover photo.

“It’s scheduled for tomorrow which means we should have prints by tomorrow night and one selected for the cover to be sent in the day after.”

Nathalie nodded, “Good. Let Adrien know.”

Marinette let out a gush of air after Nathalie left before returning to the pages in front of her. Despite the fact she’d been working there since graduating college, her bosses never ceased to induce a mini anxiety attack any time they spoke to her.

It was exhausting sometimes.

Searching through the papers, Marinette found this fall’s lookbook and started flipping through it. Of all the products, jeans were the easiest to pick out—she’d done so a few days ago—but she was still struggling with his shirt.

There were long sleeved shirts in cotton and in wool. There were three-quarter sleeved shirts. Short sleeved shirts. Scoopnecks. V-necks. She couldn’t wrap her brain around which one to pick.

She sighed and leaned back in her chair, slumping down into the seat.

She needed a break.

Standing from her desk, she grabbed her phone and bag and headed out of her office and into the main part of the building.

Gabriel had set her in an office separate from the main floor’s cubicles, something she’d protested against—she didn’t want to take someone else's office since there were so many who’d been working there years before she was hired—but he’d insisted. The dirty looks some people gave her would make her anxious sometimes, but she’d learned to just ignore it. If they were jealous they were focused more on status than work and Marinette chose to focus on work. 

She found her way outside to the back of the building and to the chair and table she’d set up there. A lone pencil crayon rocked back and forth with the wind. 

She plucked it up. “I was wondering where you went.”

Sitting down, the designer crossed her legs and pulled out her sketchbook and pencil case, pulling a few more colours from it. If she was going to figure out what Adrien was going to wear, she was going to have to test a few things before bugging him herself.

She didn’t want to be a nuisance after all.

Her pencil always worked quickly, sketching out basic figures before adding the clothing overtop. She made sure to take into account Adrien’s physique when doing so. With all the different possible options, Marinette was leaning toward a short sleeved v-neck when a voice sounded over her shoulder.

“Can we stick to long sleeves this time?”

Marinette flinched with a squeak, head snapping up to the source of the voice.

Adrien.

She let out a gush of air, hand over her heart to steady it, before she was able to speak.

“Damn, Adrien. You scared the crap outta me.”

He smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his neck, “Sorry.”

He rounded her chair and came to stand in front of her, pulling up a nearby stray seat of his own. Once in awhile he’d find her out here with his chemistry books and would study in silence while she drew. It took her awhile to get rid of her stutter when it came to him, but she’d eventually overcome it. She had to since she’d become his personal stylist for his various shoots.

So he wanted long sleeves this time, huh?

She pulled out the lookbook again and flipped through the pages until she came across a black long sleeved turtleneck. It was a thin fabric that would cling to every curve and muscle line, tailored specifically to your measurements with an extra charge. He’d look great in it.

“How’s this one?” she asked, showing him the sample.

The green of his eyes brightened, “Perfect.”

Marinette smiled at him before applying the sample to the rough sketches she’d drawn. The colours would go well together and he could definitely pull it off. He’d recently come back from vacation too, so his tanned skin would provide a great contrast.

“Awesome, I’ll get it all ready for tomorrow.”

…

The first time Adrien had asked her for long sleeves, it made sense. It was fall, it was cold, and the majority of the lineup had been long sleeved anyway.

The winter shoot had made sense as well. There were a few three-quarter sleeved woollen sweaters that would’ve been nice to showcase, but doing so out in the snow could get chilly. So again, Adrien wearing long sleeves would make a lot of sense.

But it was when they were getting ready to do the shoot for the new summer line that Marinette was starting to get suspicious. There were a lot of bathing suits and muscle shirts since the workout line features were being released at the same time, and yet Adrien insisted he wear one of the sweaters.

There was something going on here, and it was confusing her.

So she started paying attention to what he was wearing.

For the past six months, Marinette hadn’t seen him wear anything else but long sleeves, even when it was sweltering outside, and even when he was inside in the warmth. He wouldn’t take of a sweater if he was wearing a t-shirt.

It was today that she’d really known something was up.

Today, Adrien was wearing a t-shirt, which was slightly odd but Marinette wouldn’t have thought twice about it if it weren’t for the two wrist cuffs.

She’d seen those wrist cuffs before. He’d warn them ever since the previous year’s fall collection when he’d first asked if he could wear long sleeves, and ever since she would always notice they were there.

She eyed him from over her sketchbook. They were outside again.

She needed to know why he was wearing them.

‘Clumsily’ Marinette knocked her pencil case over.

“Crap.”

Adrien smirked before setting his textbook down on the table, “Still dropping things, huh, Marinette?”

She reached down to pick them up at the same time as he did and took the opportunity to grab his hand firmly.

The model looked up at her, a quizzical expression on his face. 

“Mari…what’re you—”

She pushed the wrist cuff up his arm and could feel him stiffen as she flipped his hand over, palm up.

His wrist was scarred. Thin and vertical, about four inches from the joint up in the direction of his inner elbow. A few other marks ran perpendicular, yet faint like they’d been there for a lot longer.

Marinette’s heart broke as she looked up at Adrien.

He looked like a deer caught in the headlights of a massive truck.

He pulled his hand back and covered his wrist with the cuff again.

“Adrien—”

He stood quickly and rushed back inside, not saying another word.

…

Marinette knew she’d screwed up.

She didn’t mean to upset Adrien, she was only curious and thought maybe he’d gotten a tattoo or something that he didn’t want his father to know about. The last time he’d expressed interest his father had threatened to pull him out of school if he did. Tattoos were easy enough to cover up, but Gabriel prided himself on the fact he didn’t photoshop his pictures and makeup was too unpredictable.

Adrien had ignored her through the spring photoshoot and avoided her ever since. Her spot out back was lonely without his company but more than that she was worried about her friend and she missed him.

Where was he?

For the umpteenth time she pulled out her phone and sent him a text.

_Adrien, I’m so sorry. Please talk to me._

And for the umpteenth time, he didn’t answer.

…

She’d finally caught him after a minor photoshoot in the park.

Normally she’d drive her own car back to work, but she managed to slide into Adrien’s limo at the last moment before Gorilla started driving.

And now he was stuck.

“Adrien… _please_.”

The blonde ignored her.

“Why won’t you talk to me?”

He glanced in her direction briefly with a stare that chilled her to the core.

“I didn’t mean to upset you…I just wanted to know what was going on with you…”

“Then why didn’t you just ask?” he asked sharply, gaze hard.

She deflated, head in her hands. “I don’t know. I guess…I didn’t think you’d tell me.”

“You’re right. I wouldn’t have. Because it’s my business who I tell.”

Marinette couldn’t argue with that.

…

She’d kept him in long sleeves or fingerless gloves after that.

Even if he wouldn’t talk to her, she’d do what she could to try and help him. That’s all she wanted to do anyway. She didn’t know what to do to try and make it better, and every day prayed that it would end.

But she was slowly losing hope.

…

“Marinette?”

She flinched, sitting up suddenly, pulling a sketch off of her face.

How’d that get there?

She looked around her office. 

It was dark.

Oh crap…had she fallen asleep?

Arranging the stacks of paper, she did her best to gather her things.

“Sorry, I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to fall asleep. I just…I haven’t been sleeping well lately and I ca—”

“Relax, Marinette. It’s fine.”

Her breathing stopped as she looked up.

Adrien.

He was talking to her.

A small smile pulled at the corners of his lips.

“What?” she asked. She was confused as to why he was there. He hadn’t spoken to her in six months.

Had it really only been six months?

Felt like years.

“You have pencil on your face.”

Marinette’s hand flew to her cheek and she rubbed.

“Gone?”

“Nope. Still there.”

“Now?”

“Nuh unh.”

“Goddammit.”

He laughed, “Here.”

He reached across her desk and brushed at her right cheekbone with his thumb. He was gentle with the amount of pressure needed, but not enough to hurt her.

“There.”

“Thanks,” she said quietly.

The smile left his face and he turned to one side, shifting from foot to foot.

“Adrien…I—”

“Stop.”

She stopped.

He sighed, running a hand through his shaggy golden locks. “You have nothing to be sorry for. You had no malicious intent and I overreacted.”

Marinette shook her head. “No you didn’t…I mean—”

“Marinette,” he warned, looking back down at her.

She stopped talking.

Taking a deep breath, he walked over and sat down in a chair next to her desk before wheeling it over to her side.

She watched as his fingers wrapped around one wrist cuff and pulled it off, and then the other. Setting the fabric next to him, Adrien offered her his wrists.

Marinette looked at him wide-eyed, searching his face for anger but finding none. She only found melancholy and a touch of fear.

Slowly, she curled her fingers beneath one of his upturned wrists and brought it closer to her, running a thumb over the ridges. She felt the muscle in his arm tighten slightly before it loosened.

She glanced up at him and he just nodded.

Tenderly, Marinette brought a finger up to trace the faint horizontal lines. She knew he must be really uncomfortable right now and a faint feeling of regret pooled deep in her stomach. He wouldn’t be feeling this way if she hadn’t fed her curiosity.

But more than that, she felt he needed to be able to tell someone about it.

“When did these ones happen?” she asked gently.

“Middle of high school,” he said softly. “It was stupid. Really stupid. There was no real reason for it.”

Marinette shook her head, “Obviously that isn’t true.”

Adrien swallowed, looking down and away from Marinette. She could feel that he was baring a piece of his soul to her as she looked at these scars he’d hidden for so long.

“What about this one?”

The vertical one.

When he didn’t answer she looked up from his wrist to his face, waiting for him to speak. She gave his hand a light squeeze as he met her eyes again.

“About a year ago.”

Marinette took a deep breath in. The fear in her gut was overwhelming and she didn’t quite know what to do about it. She hated that he felt that way and couldn’t bear the thought of him being in so much pain to do this. 

She moved one hand to his other wrist so she was holding one in each of her own before rubbing his palms with her thumb.

“Adrien?”

He hesitantly looked up at her.

“I’m not going to say I know how you must’ve felt, because I don’t. And I’m not going to lecture you with what you should or shouldn’t have done, or that you were being stupid, because in the end what you should or shouldn’t have done isn't what matters.” She leaned down to keep his gaze as he tried to turn away.

“What matters, Adrien, is that you were in pain. You were and probably still are in enough pain that you’ve done this to try and feel better. Maybe you were doing this to punish yourself, and maybe…” she cut herself off and shook her head as she thought about the vertical cut.

“I don’t know what you’re thinking,” she whispered, pulling one of his hands up to her face and pressing her lips to his wrist. “And I won’t press you to tell me.” She did the same with the other before letting them go.

“But Adrien,” she brought her hands up to cradle his face and waited until he looked at her.

“I’m here for you.”

His eyes glazed over as he closed them, breathing out and bowing his head.

She pulled him to her chest, resting a cheek atop his hair and smoothed it down against his neck. “I’m here for you. I care about you. You are one of my best friends. I—”

She took a deep breath.

“I love you, and I care that you’re in pain. So please…” she swallowed back her own tears. “Please call me next time. Next time you’re in this much pain and feel that alone please call me. Text me.” 

She tightened her grip around him. 

“Whatever you have to do to get my attention and I will drop whatever I’m doing and come to you. I won’t get angry. I won’t get upset. I just want to be there for you and help you get through whatever it is you’re feeling. Okay?”

It was a few moments before he mumbled into her stomach. She couldn’t make it out his voice was so muffled, but the vibrations and tone told her the two syllable word that he’d muttered.

_Okay._

**Author's Note:**

> ...AUTHORS NOTE PLEASE READ...
> 
> A/N: A quick word about this.
> 
> I kept Adrien vague in this because I only know my own experience and reasons for cutting and I don't want to make generalizations. I know that a lot of people are in pain out there and find themselves driven to cut. I’ve been there and I have my own scars from it.
> 
> What Marinette says, is what I feel when I hear about someone cutting. I don’t blame you. I won’t get mad at you. I’m just sympathetic to the pain you must have been in that drove yourself to it.
> 
> That being said, if you’re in a bad enough mental space that you’re going to cut, please talk to someone. A family member. A friend. Someone online. Feel free to send me a message and I’m more than happy to listen so you feel heard and can feel how you’re feeling without guilt or being judged.
> 
> You’re all my readers and followers, and even if we don’t talk I still care about you.
> 
> ________________________________________________________________________________________
> 
> You guys can find me on:
> 
> Tumblr - http://x-benihime.tumblr.com  
> FanFiction - https://www.fanfiction.net/u/7610579/


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